Reading, Writing, and Wintering
And making plans for a spring launch
The weather is frightful, so I’m engaging in my favourite winter sports: reading and writing.
On the reading side, I’ve had a great couple of months working through my stack of Christmas books. My top five of 2026 so far: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, Heart the Lover by Lily King, The Names by Florence Knapp, Something to Hold Onto by Kate Robson, and A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews.
On the writing side, I’m immersed in the third draft of Put It To Bed, the third book in my Quill & Packet series with Elizabeth Renzetti. It won’t see the light of day until Fall 2027, so this is the messy middle of writing process. It’s fine, everything’s fine….
In Praise of Libraries
One of the best things I get to do in publishing is to connect with libraries and librarians. I’m a passionate, lifelong library user and enthusiast. While I try to buy books these days to support writers, I still use the Toronto library system for research (and for meeting with Liz Renzetti to work on plot problems). To say thank you, I donate monthly to the TPL foundation. I believe it’s one of the most important institutions driving equity in our communities. Please consider supporting all of the fine work they do.
Recently, I attended the Ontario Library Association Super-Conference in Toronto (picture above), which is a huge continuing education event for librarians and includes a library trade show, where publishers set up booths to exhibit their upcoming titles. They provide a limited number of advance reader copies and invite authors to come and sign them. It was seriously freezing that day, but the OLA made me happy to have left the house. Go, book people!
Finally, did you know that writers receive compensation when people borrow their books from libraries? Every February, writers like me delight in a little windfall from the Public Lending Right Program of the Canada Council for the Arts — it’s a way of ensuring public access to Canadian content in libraries and putting money in the pockets of Canadian creators.
Come to my book launch!
In case you missed it, City of the Muse is a dual-timeline historical mystery that follows the adventurous life and mysterious death of a pioneering Egyptologist — and to get into the spirit, I’m hosting a screening of Kenneth Branagh’s 2022 film, Death on the Nile.
Return to the golden age of mystery as Agatha Christie’s famous detective, Hercule Poirot, steams down the Nile with a boatload of suspects and an elaborate moustache. Tickets and popcorn are free — and you can nab a copy of City of the Muse a couple of days prior to the official release date.
Following the film, I’ll have a short chat with my pal Bianca Marais about women’s lost contributions to archaeology, research obsessions, and why papyrus fragments might contain the greatest treasure ever found in Egypt.
I hope you’ll join me, along with many other writers and book fans, on Sunday, April 12 at the Fox Theatre on Queen Street East (in the Beaches). Doors open at 11:30 am; screening begins at 11:45 am. Register here. Feel free to bring a friend!
Cheers,
Kate x